Nigeria has been counted among eight countries of the world with the highest number of hungry people.
The other countries are Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen According to United Nations report, in a report by the Global Report on Food Crisis for 2019, about 113 million people experienced high levels of food insecurity in these eight countries in 2018.
The report was released in Brussels on Wednesday. It warned that these food crises were primarily driven by conflict and climate-related disasters.
“The worst food crises in 2018, in order of severity, were: Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Sudan, South Sudan and northern Nigeria.
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These eight countries accounted for two-thirds of the total number of people facing acute food insecurity – amounting to nearly 72 million people,” the report said.
“Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Sudan, South Sudan and northern Nigeria are expected to remain among the world’s most severe food crises in 2019.
“Large segments of populations in most of these countries risk falling into Emergency (IPC/CH Phase 4) levels of acute food insecurity,” it stated.
The report further added: “In the 16 states of northern Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, the number of people in ‘Crisis’ and ‘Emergency’ decreased by 40 per cent between June and August 2017 and 2018 to 5.3 million.
“At the peak of the lean season three million were acutely food insecure in the three north-eastern states affected by the Boko Haram insurgency where protracted conflict and mass displacement disrupted agriculture, trade, markets and livelihoods, and pushed up food prices,” said the report.